Johnny's Truck stop in NJ

I too spent a lot of time @ Johnny’s. Remember the hole in the fence to get to the Liquor Store Next Door! What about the beautiful hookers after it got dark that used to advertise on the CB and go from Truck to Truck. I happen to become friends with 1 particular girl. I do mean Girl. I was in my early 20’s and Johnnys was one of the two truck stops back then that were the last before entering New York by the GW Bridge. Crime was so bad in New York, especially in the Bronx which is where the largest produce market is, Hunts Point Market. So a smart trucker would get to Johnnys and wait till about 3 to 4 am and then proceed to NY, and George Washington Bridge where timing it like that you could get into New York before all the traffic got heavy. So back to the story. This Prostitute was just 13 years old, but she was physically built like a 25 year old woman. She always wore expensive name brand clothes and always smelled like a field of flowers. And in the face she was as pretty and looked like Elizabeth Taylor. With the natural Very Dark Brown to Black Hair. I become very good friends with her and not a customer. After getting to know her and the tragic life she had been forced into because of an abusive Father and a Mother that was a Drunk. She left home. Well if anyone out here can remember, right at sundown there was a White Camaro that drove right up on the Lot at Johnnys and let 4 women out. They were the Lot Lizards that controlled Johnnys night life. Well, i can remember this 13 year old girls name, but, some may condemn me, but, I was glad to help her. So, I gave her a key to my truck and told her she could come and go and use my back then called Rambo CB Radio. That’s a CB with a lot of power and talking range. So she did while I got some sleep and rested. She would come and go all night and piled up the cash in the passenger side floor board in my 84 Pete 359. Then at daylight she would leave me a tip and the key on the seat and lock the door. So after a few years of trucking the east coast we became very good friends. That is my memory of what Johnnys Truck Stop was like. With my Rambo radio, I could hear them girls advertising when I was leaving Allentown, Pa. Then soon I would start talking to them. My Radio had a particular sound with echo and a Roger Beep at the end of each transmission. So the recognize my radio and would then she would ask if I was stopping and if so, could she come visit. Not all trips did I have time to Stop. But I try to time it, so I could after I became friends with this 13 year old Prostitute when I was just 22 years old myself. I am now retired and in my 60’s. I have always wondered if she ever made enough money to move to California. That was her dream to go as far away from where she was born were no one knew her and she could have a normal life.

 

Johnny's at one time looked like a Malone terminal. I was leased to Malone back in the 70s and anytime I needed direction to a place in NJ, I could always find a Malone driver at Johnny's that knew what I needed. If after getting empty in NJ, if Malone did not have us a re load, we would always go back to Johnny's and hang around. There were times when there were 30 or 40 Malone trucks there. If dispatcher needed one of us, he would call the truck stop and they would find who the dispatch needed.

 

I had the displeasure of stopping there right after Pilot had bought them out and were remodeling. Wasted 30 minutes just getting in and out and never parked or left the truck.